Cars and bicyclists are territorial animals.

Both feel ownership for the pavement below their tires, and are wary of trespassers. Rules exist on how they should share Maine’s roads, but not enough – on each side – know or respect them. Despite their differences, however, cars and bikes share a common enemy: high gasoline prices.

Jeff Miller, director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, told The Associated Press this week that legislation refining bike safety laws – such as mandating a three-foot space between passing cars and bikes – stems from increased bike sales, bike tourism and, of course, the per-gallon price of gas.

“With every increase in the cost of gasoline, more people are going to bicycle transportation,” Miller says, with logic hard to refute. As gas prices rise, it’s likely experienced drivers will shed their rides to become enthusiastic, but perhaps inexperienced, bicycle riders.

This could cause further consternation for motorists. Another downside is the resulting plunge in gasoline usage, taxes upon which fund transportation projects, an account $2 billion short of what it needs over the next 10 years, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

Yet plans to change the way transportation projects are funded have stalled in Augusta. The Transportation Committee has elected to study new funding methods, after a push for a blended consumption/excise gasoline tax failed to garner support.

This blend would have raised gasoline prices, which triggered opposition by Gov. John Baldacci, according to the State House News Service. Until new ways of funding transportation projects are found, however, the deficit for transportation projects in Maine is likely to grow.

Which makes funding scarce for multi-modal projects, or investments such as roadway bicycle lanes, or dedicated walking or bicycle paths, despite state support.

“We want people to explore Maine and not be dependent on a motor vehicle,” said MDOT planner Duane Scott on Wednesday, during a public hearing in Mexico about MDOT’s future plans. “But use a multi-modal approach.”

There’s no simple way out of this quagmire. Lawmakers such as Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Hancock, and Rep. Boyd Marley, D-Portland, the Senate and House chairmen of the Transportation Committee, deserve credit for bringing transportation funding issues to the forefront.

It should be a major initiative in the next legislative session.

Until then, the rules of the road must be respected, and cars and bicyclists must find harmony. The pending legislation, with the three-foot span, helmet and drunken cycling provisions, is the first pedal on this path.

The rest is up to bicyclists and motorists to share the road, united as victims of high gasoline prices.